Paper bag crafts have been a beloved craft for generations, and it's not hard to see why.
Not only are they eco-friendly, easy to make, and incredibly versatile, but they’re also super cheap. All you need is a stack of paper bags, some markers, glue, and scraps, and you’re all set to put together an ensemble of charming characters!
Not sure which crafts to make for different stories and activities? We’re here to help. In this article, we're going to show you paper bag craft ideas that range from quirky animals to fantastical creatures.
So if you’re a crafty parent looking to entertain your kids on weekends and help spark their imagination, craft-making is the perfect pursuit for you!
28 Paper Bag Crafts: Animals
Ready to let the craft playtime begin? Check out our list of crafting projects below!
1. Smiling Lion With a Fluffy Mane
This cheery paper bag lion has a glorious red mane cut out from construction paper that frames its friendly smile.
Little ones will roar with joy as they bring this king of the jungle to life.
2. Grinning Shark With Sharp Teeth
Showing off sharp white chompers, this shark paper bag craft is more fun than fearsome. Its cheeky, toothy grin encourages your child to go on playful pretend quests under the sea.
3. Gentle Giraffe With Long Neck
Creating this paper bag giraffe is sure to enthrall budding wildlife enthusiasts, especially when they get to making its round eyes and spotty coat.
4. Playful Monkey With a Banana
Thanks to its mischievous expression and the banana paper cutout in its paws, this paper bag monkey will be the life of your jungle-themed storytime!
5. Magical Unicorn With a Sparkly Horn
Made of sparkly paper, the horn of this paper bag unicorn and its hair are just adorable with enchanting pastel hues. The paper flowers on its head are the cherry on top of this cute design!
6. Wise Owl With Big Eyes
Paste saucer-sized eyes and a beak on your paper bag, and you’ll have a wise owl! Encourage your little one to draw feathers as well to complete the look.
7. Jumpy Frog With a Red Tongue
With a big red tongue, this paper bag frog is ready to catch a fly and inspire fits of giggles among your kids.
8. Busy Bee With Striped Body
Buzzing with joy, this paper bag bee showcases distinctive yellow and black stripes and round wings.
9. Creepy Spider With Long Legs
Your kids will love making this paper bag spider skitter around with its long legs, adding a creepy-crawly element to playtime!
10. Prancing Horse With a Flowing Mane
Boasting a paper mane and adorable ears, this paper bag horse will be a favorite for little ones who dream of galloping through their own storybook adventures.
11. Roaring Dinosaur With Sharp Claws
This paper bag dino lets out a roar with its wide-open mouth, sharp claws, and cool green color. It’s ready for action anytime your kids want to go all the way back to prehistoric times!
12. Fluttering Butterfly With Patterned Wings
The best part about making a paper bag butterfly craft is that it’s easy to customize. Younger kids can stick to scribbling on it, while older kids can cut out paper to create its wings, body, and eyes.
13. Chirpy Bird With a Bright Beak
For a cheerful addition to your crafting session, try making this cute bird with a sunny beak! Let your child add their artistic flair with feathers in different colors.
14. Sleepy Sloth With Curled Claws
Cuddly and calm, this paper bag sloth is a great character to mix up your usual repertoire of animal crafts.
Tip: Its claws can be made out of cardboard from old white boxes!
15. Sneaky Raccoon With a Masked Face
This paper bag raccoon — with its paws and dark eyes — is poised for nighttime escapades in the backyard.
16. Loyal Dog With a Wagging Tail
Long, wagging tail? Check. Long ears? Check. Big, bright eyes begging for treats? Check. This paper bag pup has all the features of your child’s faithful furry friend.
17. Fluffy Cat With Whiskers
Featuring black whiskers and pink ears, this cat is perfect for kids to craft. The use of felt for the whiskers will make it a cozy addition to your kids’ craft collection.
18. Adorable Elephant With a Long Trunk
Little kids will enjoy adding a long trunk and large ears to a paper bag elephant like this one! They can even mimic a trumpet sound during playtime for extra fun.
19. Cheeky Mouse
Making this mouse is a delightful project for those who love tiny creatures and big adventures. It’s great for a thrilling cat-and-mouse story with a paper bag cat craft!
20. Wild Wolf With Piercing Eyes
The big eyes and light-colored strokes (which represent fur) of this paper bag wolf are super exciting to create! This is a fun craft that invites kids to engage in dramatic play with their own versions of wildlife tales.
21. Exotic Parrot With Rainbow Feathers
Adorned with feathers cut out from colored paper, this parrot is a lively character for all sorts of imaginative stories. Kids will have a blast making it squawk or talk in a silly high-pitched voice.
22. Zany Zebra
Whether with black paint or strips of black paper, little ones can add stripes that zig and zag to a white paper bag and make a zebra!
23. Hopping Kangaroo
This kangaroo paper bag craft can hop into the scene of any pretend play session. Details like its nose and paws can be drawn on with a black marker, while its ears and eyes can be made of paper cutouts.
24. Cuddly Panda With Black Patches
Ideal as a comforting buddy for pretend play, this panda is easy to make. Your little one can simply use black construction paper to cut out circles for the chest, arms, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, then glue them on a white paper bag.
25. Fire-Breathing Dragon With Scales
Adventure awaits with this dragon made of a green paper bag! For an extra magical look, it sports orange ears, orange wings, and black scales.
26. Cute Bunny With Floppy Ears
Sprightly and sweet, this paper bag bunny hops along with long, floppy ears.
27. Bright-Eyed Reindeer With Large Antlers
Putting together a Christmas display for your holiday gathering? Create this paper bag reindeer with your kids, and make sure to add large antlers.
28. Happy Ladybugs With Antennae
Are your kids more into insects than woodland creatures? Then this project is for them!
They can make ladybug crafts by painting a paper bag red and adding eyes, black spots, tiny feet, and black antennae with paper cutouts.
25 Paper Bag Crafts: Characters
29. Friendly Alien With Three Eyes
Made from green construction paper, this alien has three whimsical eyes that seem keen to explore our world.
Tip: Use old shoelaces to make its antennae and arms for a standout textural contrast.
30. Jolly Pirate With a Patched Eye
Here's a jolly pirate with a rugged eye patch and a black paper hat emblazoned with bones. His black beard makes him look adventurous!
31. Bearded Wizard With a Pointy Hat
Creating this bearded wizard involves cutting out a beard with gray paper and adding black lines to make a flowing beard. Then you can construct a pointy hat from another paper bag.
32. Silly Clown With a Red Nose
Want to make a paper bag clown with your kids?
Don’t forget the essentials: a white face with colorful hair, a vibrant outfit with white dots, a big smile, and a fuzzy red nose.
33. Brave Knight With a Shiny Armor
With his golden armor, golden sword, and golden cape, this brave knight is ready to go into battle, defend his castle, and save the day!
34. Red Riding Hood With a Hooded Cape
Tell the story of Red Riding Hood’s classic journey through the woods with this paper bag craft!
What makes it stand out is the red paper cloak added to the paper bag, along with the red ribbon around her neck.
35. Elegant Princess With a Pretty Crown
To make this elegant princess character, children can use a pink paper bag for her gown, gold construction paper for her dress accents, and yellow paper for the crown atop her head.
36. Curious Astronaut With a Space Suit
This paper bag astronaut has a super cool white space suit with drawn-on details. With a playmate like this, your little one will be all set for a space mission!
37. Strong Superhero With a Cape
Everyone knows that superheroes look their coolest with capes, and this paper bag Superman dons the character’s famous red cape and the S logo on his chest.
38. Tough Firefighter With a Big Helmet
Equipped with a yellow helmet and a red uniform with yellow accents, this paper bag firefighter embodies bravery like no other.
39. Scary Vampire With Pointy Fangs
Not all crafts are fun and games. If you want to create spooky decorations for Halloween, you and your kids can create paper bag vampires with a scary face and a black and red suit.
40. Happy Snowman With a Carrot Nose
This happy snowman has a carrot-shaped nose and a scarf cut out of orange paper. Meanwhile, its eyes, mouth, buttons, and hat are cut out from black paper, creating a friendly face on the white paper bag base.
41. Friendly Ghosts With Big Smiles
Cut out a pair of eyes and a happy mouth from black paper to create friendly and adorable ghost faces on white paper bags, then decorate their cheeks with pink freckles.
This is a fun paper bag craft project for your kids to make on Halloween!
42. Regal King With a Golden Crown
Behold His Majesty, the king! With his robe of different colors and his golden paper crown adorned with colorful paper gems, he commands respect and authority.
43. Noble Queen With a Royal Scepter
Holding a scepter made of a toothpick covered in gold foil and colored paper, this noble paper bag queen craft looks majestic, especially with her gold crown and purple cape.
44. Good Doctor With a Stethoscope
This smiling doctor can play a caring role in imaginative play. Give him a white coat, a blue shirt, and — of course — a stethoscope for a true-to-life look.
45. Girl and Boy With Yarn Hair
A craft duo for any scenario your little ones can imagine, this boy and this girl have colorful yarn hair to create a full head of playful locks. Their faces also don bright smiles and large eyes.
46. Graceful Ballerinas
The rumpled skirts of these ballerinas add a realistic touch to their dance. Young artists can also add ballerina bun hairstyles using a different set of paper bags!
47. Daring Detective With a Magnifying Glass
Are your kids itching to solve a mystery?
This detective can help them on their next case with a cool blue uniform and a magnifying glass — a must-have tool for investigation.
48. Joyful Farmer With a Straw Hat
This joyful farmer beams from beneath his wide-brimmed hat, showing off his joy in his hard work. He also rocks a cute outfit of blue overalls and a red plaid shirt with drawn-on black details.
49. Clever Scientist With a Lab Coat
Wearing a white lab coat with pockets, this paper bag scientist is the picture of intellectual curiosity. His face beams with joy as he makes his next big discovery!
50. Santa Claus With a Jolly Beard
No Christmas story is complete without Santa Claus, so making a paper bag Santa craft is a great holiday crafting project! Your kids can use red paper for his suit and hat and white paper for his beard.
51. Enchanted Elf With Pointed Ears
This elf craft is easily identifiable by his pointed ears, cut from paper and attached to the sides of the bag. And with his red Christmas hat and green suit, he’s the perfect addition to your DIY holiday decor ensemble!
52. Blue Mermaid
Explore deep-sea tales with this mermaid, an enchanting creature with a blue tail featuring black-lined scales. This underwater character can be further embellished with a multicolored crown.
53. Scheming Witch
With a pointy hat and a petrifying smile, this scheming witch is a figure of mystery in a fairy tale. The green and black colors of this craft only augment the witch's mystical allure.
From Bags to Buddies: Create Adorable Paper Bag Crafts With Loads of Personality!
Before you toss those old paper bags, why not try breathing new life into them by transforming them into delightful creatures and fun characters for playtime?
And with the variety of designs we’ve featured above, you can choose your favorites and begin crafting!
Whether you want to put a unique spin on a fairy tale, create pretend play scenarios, or go on wild adventures through seas and forests, these crafts can open up an enchanting realm of story telling for you and your kids.
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